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Austrian Guides and Scouts To Host Main Peace Light Ceremony in Vienna in December

15th Nov 2013

(PPÖ/Vienna) - The Roman-Catholic Votiv-Church in Vienna's city centre will be packed on 14 December 2014 when the Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Österreichs (PPÖ), the National Scout Organization (NSO) in Austria, will host the main Peace Light Ceremony for the 25th time.

The ecumenical ceremony will see representatives of more than 25 NSOs from Europe and beyond gather to celebrate peace, harmony and understanding under the motto "Something small gets big", a theme picked up from Prophet Micah (chapter 5,1). The story not only refers to Micah's prophecy of the coming of Jesus, Son of God, but also to the fact that PPÖ's involvement in the Peace Light activity has grown from a small local project with some 100 Scouts and Guides to a global project reaching out to all corners of the world and across different cultures and denominations.

Each year, the Peace Light is fetched by a girl or boy from Austria in Bethlehem, where a candle is lit in the Church of Nativity. It is then presented in an large ecumenical ceremony (this year on 14 December 2013) where delegations from many Scout- and Guide Associations pick it up bring it home to their towns, villages and families. Thus, a small and fragile candle carries its warmth to many households bringing with it a message of inter-religious understanding and peace.